Booking BLT if We're Non-DVC Owners

How Far in Advance Were You Able to Book BLT Through CRO if You're Not DVC Owners?

  • 11 Months Out

  • 10 Months Out

  • 9 Months Out

  • 8 Months Out

  • 7 Months Out

  • 6 Months Out

  • 5 Months Out

  • 4 Months Out

  • 3 Months Out

  • 2 Months Out

  • We were never able to book/No availability


Results are only viewable after voting.

SRUAlmn

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 19, 2004
Hi DIS friends! I'm hoping ya'll can help me ease my mind a little. My mom has been dreaming of being able to watch Wishes from her room for years. We finally decided that life is short, and we're going to splurge a little and do it! Due to the size of our traveling party, a 2 bedroom at BLT is our best option (after MUCH research and debate :) ) I read on the BLT/CR thread that the dates you can book if you don't own DVC can vary and there's a likelihood that we might not even be able to get it, and I'm trying not to let my brain go there. I have hope! Since the release dates can vary, I thought I'd post a poll for others who don't own DVC who have been able to book (through CRO, not by renting points.) If you could, please, choose the poll option that describes how soon in advance of your trip you were able to book. We are looking at staying in July of 2014, so if anyone stayed this July (or is about to) and would like to post your experiences below I would REALLY appreciate that! :thumbsup2 If you could also please post what type of room/view you were able to book and the time frame in which you booked it in the posting section that would help me out a lot too :) I'm trying to avoid having to look online or call CRO every day for 6 months, ha! Thanks so much!!

*I stopped the poll at 2 months because I read that the inventory is released at 60 days out, so if you booked less than 60 days out, please just choose the 2 month option ;)
 
I'd love to have this info as well, since we're hoping to book a 2BR at BLT for 29 July - 8 Aug next year. I booked AKL Savanna view rooms last night, just so that we have a place to stay, but DH is really hoping for BLT MKV instead.
 
I have stayed at BLT 3 times without points and have dec 2013 booked.

I watched for a passholder discount and got in at 3 month mark the first 4/2010.

Booked at 7mark (give or take) for 11/2011.

Then booked a 1bdrm at 7month for 11/2012 but checked almost daily and in 7/12 I was able to get a 2bdrm so switched.

I booked 3weeks ago for 12/19-12/24/13 in a 2bdrm. There are more dates and options than any other previous time I have looked mainly due to VGF opening.

Also booked all online with disney directly.
 
I have stayed at BLT 3 times without points and have dec 2013 booked.

I watched for a passholder discount and got in at 3 month mark the first 4/2010.

Booked at 7mark (give or take) for 11/2011.

Then booked a 1bdrm at 7month for 11/2012 but checked almost daily and in 7/12 I was able to get a 2bdrm so switched.

I booked 3weeks ago for 12/19-12/24/13 in a 2bdrm. There are more dates and options than any other previous time I have looked mainly due to VGF opening.

Also booked all online with disney directly.

Thank you :worship: This is so reassuring! We will also be using the Passholder discount, but we can book (if available) before that and then call and apply the AP discount once it's released, right?

OurBigTrip:
You're smart to have a back up, just in case. Our problem is that nothing else really fits our group unless we want to get 3 rooms somewhere else and end up paying double what we'd pay at BLT (in some cases even more than double.)
 


Thank you :worship: This is so reassuring! We will also be using the Passholder discount, but we can book (if available) before that and then call and apply the AP discount once it's released, right?

OurBigTrip:
You're smart to have a back up, just in case. Our problem is that nothing else really fits our group unless we want to get 3 rooms somewhere else and end up paying double what we'd pay at BLT (in some cases even more than double.)

That's what I ended up doing - 3 rooms at AKL. At rack rate, it's still $500 more per night than the 2BR at BLT, but I figure worst case, I'll get the 15% AAA discount, and I can buy an AP for myself if AP discounts come out, which, if they are the same as usual, will bring the 3 rooms down to under the 2BR BLT MKV price.

But I'm *definitely* holding out hope for BLT later this year or early next year!
 
That's what I ended up doing - 3 rooms at AKL. At rack rate, it's still $500 more per night than the 2BR at BLT, but I figure worst case, I'll get the 15% AAA discount, and I can buy an AP for myself if AP discounts come out, which, if they are the same as usual, will bring the 3 rooms down to under the 2BR BLT MKV price.

But I'm *definitely* holding out hope for BLT later this year or early next year!

I know! We initially looked at 3 MK View rooms at the Poly, but even with the AP discount it came out to a little over $3,000/room! :crazy2: Plus, no living area/kitchen/dining area. Let's keep each other posted on this thread as we check availability :thumbsup2 We're looking into going 2 weeks before you (depends on when value season starts for the deluxes.) Once the 2014 rates/seasons are released on Wednesday we'll have a better idea.
 
I know! We initially looked at 3 MK View rooms at the Poly, but even with the AP discount it came out to a little over $3,000/room! :crazy2: Plus, no living area/kitchen/dining area. Let's keep each other posted on this thread as we check availability :thumbsup2 We're looking into going 2 weeks before you (depends on when value season starts for the deluxes.) Once the 2014 rates/seasons are released on Wednesday we'll have a better idea.

We were looking at going as soon as Value 2 season started, on the assumption that it would start the same time as in the past. But DD is going to the beach with her boyfriend's family, and since they are both coming with us to WDW, we had to adjust to later in the month.

They will get home from the beach (Outer Banks) on Sunday, we'll fly out for WDW on Tuesday morning, and we'll be back a week before they have to return to college.
 


Wanted to add...when I booked our rooms last night, the price was $377/night per room, which is $9/night more than the current Value 2 rate. I asked the CM if $377 is the 2014 room only price, and he said yes, but as you said, we won't know for sure until next Wednesday.
 
We were looking at going as soon as Value 2 season started, on the assumption that it would start the same time as in the past. But DD is going to the beach with her boyfriend's family, and since they are both coming with us to WDW, we had to adjust to later in the month.

They will get home from the beach (Outer Banks) on Sunday, we'll fly out for WDW on Tuesday morning, and we'll be back a week before they have to return to college.

Funny, we have a similar plan. We try to do one beach week and one Disney week back to back and then I'm a teacher so I'll have to go back to school the week after we get back :thumbsup2 We might split the beach and Disney weeks by a few weeks this year, though, since our Disney portion is going to cost more than usual. ;)
 
Wanted to add...when I booked our rooms last night, the price was $377/night per room, which is $9/night more than the current Value 2 rate. I asked the CM if $377 is the 2014 room only price, and he said yes, but as you said, we won't know for sure until next Wednesday.

Thanks! Hopefully that means 2014 rates won't be astronomically higher. Is your reservation for savanna view or Arusha view? Have you stayed there before? We did in 2010 with a savanna view (before Arusha was a booking category) and we were on the Arusha. It was so beautiful! I really LOVE that resort and think my mom would love it too since she's very into that type of décor, but she hates the buses and I can't convince her stay somewhere that doesn't have walking/monorail/boat as an option to at least one park :rotfl2:
 
Thanks! Hopefully that means 2014 rates won't be astronomically higher. Is your reservation for savanna view or Arusha view? Have you stayed there before? We did in 2010 with a savanna view (before Arusha was a booking category) and we were on the Arusha. It was so beautiful! I really LOVE that resort and think my mom would love it too since she's very into that type of décor, but she hates the buses and I can't convince her stay somewhere that doesn't have walking/monorail/boat as an option to at least one park :rotfl2:

We've never stayed there before, and I didn't book Arusha...is it your opinion that Arusha is a better view than plain Savanna?

DH asked me why I didn't book CR with MKV, and I told him that for 3 rooms at rack (I plan with rack, then am happy with any discount I might get), it was a difference of $500+/night for the 3 rooms...for that big of a difference, I'll book a fireworks cruise for the family and still come out way ahead LOL.
 
We've never stayed there before, and I didn't book Arusha...is it your opinion that Arusha is a better view than plain Savanna?

DH asked me why I didn't book CR with MKV, and I told him that for 3 rooms at rack (I plan with rack, then am happy with any discount I might get), it was a difference of $500+/night for the 3 rooms...for that big of a difference, I'll book a fireworks cruise for the family and still come out way ahead LOL.

Seriously! The deposits alone would be insane. We haven't stayed on any of the other savannas, so I'm not sure I'd say it's the 'best' view, but I know when we were researching and booking everyone was saying that's the view you'd want. It's a much more expansive savanna (if you look at the AKL map.) Some of the other savanna views are more confined and have other things in the view such as maintenance areas, dirt areas with no animals, etc... Check out the AKL Resort thread (first few posts with all the info) and maybe you can see what is being said now that Arusha is a separate booking category. Although, hopefully you won't need to care! :thumbsup2
 
I booked a one bedroom at BLT in August for a week long trip in early October, no problem at all.
 
I booked a one bedroom at BLT in August for a week long trip in early October, no problem at all.

Thank you! That's great news! I know October is probably a slower time than the summer, but it gives me hope :thumbsup2
 
don't know for sure...but i would imagine that the day after the
7mos time frame would be when they had the most inventory.

we own 3 contacts there & that's when we can trade out-
...basically i think our points would be like 2 rooms. at
the 7mos. this year, we traded back out so we can spend 2 weeks
@ aulani this christmas. and i think many owners are
doing the same thing @ the 7mos. period, especially certain
times of the year.
 
don't know for sure...but i would imagine that the day after the
7mos time frame would be when they had the most inventory.

we own 3 contacts there & that's when we can trade out-
...basically i think our points would be like 2 rooms. at
the 7mos. this year, we traded back out so we can spend 2 weeks
@ aulani this christmas. and i think many owners are
doing the same thing @ the 7mos. period, especially certain
times of the year.

Thank you! That is so helpful! So when you say 7 months, when in the month does that mean? For example, if we're looking at checking in on July 13, would our 7 month mark be December 13 or does the whole month open at once and our 7 month date would be December 1? Does that make sense?
 
Thank you :worship: This is so reassuring! We will also be using the Passholder discount, but we can book (if available) before that and then call and apply the AP discount once it's released, right?

OurBigTrip:
You're smart to have a back up, just in case. Our problem is that nothing else really fits our group unless we want to get 3 rooms somewhere else and end up paying double what we'd pay at BLT (in some cases even more than double.)

When I tried to apply passholder rate the past 2 Thanksgivings it was not available. Once due to block out dates and once due to resort being sold out so... It will depend on how busy. I do check daily when I really want something and sometimes I get lucky. Out of 40 stays I have not gotten some sort of discount only about 4 or 5 times.
 
When I tried to apply passholder rate the past 2 Thanksgivings it was not available. Once due to block out dates and once due to resort being sold out so... It will depend on how busy. I do check daily when I really want something and sometimes I get lucky. Out of 40 stays I have not gotten some sort of discount only about 4 or 5 times.

Thanks! I know holidays are often blacked out, but I am worried about summer being a busy time. Unfortunately, I'm a teacher, so it's our only option! I went on Mousesavers and tried to look through the historical AP data and it looks like summer isn't usually blacked out, so fingers crossed that we at least have one thing working for us. You better believe I'll be checking daily :thumbsup2 I'm hoping, with the new Grand Floridian DVC opening soon, many BLT people will choose to give that a try this year instead.
 
Thanks! I know holidays are often blacked out, but I am worried about summer being a busy time. Unfortunately, I'm a teacher, so it's our only option! I went on Mousesavers and tried to look through the historical AP data and it looks like summer isn't usually blacked out, so fingers crossed that we at least have one thing working for us. You better believe I'll be checking daily :thumbsup2 I'm hoping, with the new Grand Floridian DVC opening soon, many BLT people will choose to give that a try this year instead.

DVC Salespeople are telling potential customers that they don't have any BLT to sell. That pretty much means it is sold out to members. You'll have to wait for members to trade that inventory for a non-DVC Disney trip, like DCL.
 
There are 3 ways that DVC villas become available for cash reservations by non-members:

1) Disney retains ownership of a very small percentage (< 10%) of the room inventory at each DVC resort. You'll see these available for cash reservations. I'm not sure exactly when these become available, I'd guess sometime between 7-11 months out. When a new DVC resort is in the sales process, there's also a lot of developer inventory in DVC's possession - the percentage of the resort's room inventory that has not been sold to members. A good bit of this is also often available for cash reservations.

2) If members trade out of the DVC system, for instance to stay at DLP, or a non-DVC resort at DL or WDW, or take an ABD trip, or a DCL cruise, a villa of roughly equal 'value' is sent from the member inventory to be rented for cash to cover the cost of the trade. These don't appear in any particular time frame, just whenever a member trades out.

(The seven month window referred to by a PP is not really relevant in this situation. When a BLT member uses their points to stay at another DVC resort, like Aulani, a BLT villa does not go into the cash inventory. That's only when members stay at NON-DVC resorts.)

3) At 60 days out, any DVC villas not reserved by members go into the cash inventory to recover breakage income for that resort's owners. The difference with this example is, if a member then comes along and wants to rent one of these with their points, it gets pulled back out of the cash inventory and goes back to member inventory.

OP, the upshot of all this is that you just have to keep watching for BLT villas to appear in the cash inventory. There's really no hard and fast rule for when you'll see one appear.
 

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